Atsutoshi Maeda is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune who has been engaged in an extensive range of legal matters. In particular, he has provided general corporate advice on issues regarding various commercial laws, employment laws and compliance problems, as well as negotiated contracts in a broad range of industries and tackled disputes for domestic and overseas clients. Given the unique nature of Japanese business culture and legal and contract frameworks that are distinct from western practices, Mr. Maeda always clarifies what non-Japanese clients can expect and should not expect from contract negotiation, semi-contentious discussions, employment issues and/or with the handling of transactions. As such, for international clients, he always aims to demystify Japanese law and local market practice.

Hiroki Wakabayashi is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, primarily representing both Japanese and non-Japanese financial institutions, audit corporations and business corporations in transaction disputes, professional responsibility disputes, labor relation disputes and other types of disputes, based on his experience as a lawyer as well as a judge. In addition to these corporate related disputes, he also practices in the areas of inheritance and domestic relations.

Hironori Shibata is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and is engaged principally in the fields of general corporate matters, international finance and cross-border M&A transactions, with an emphasis on international capital market, public offering and other transactions involving restructuring of financial business.

Isao Shindo is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, who has been involved principally in the fields of banking, securities transactions, asset management, insurance, trust and structured finance, as well as M&A projects involving financial institutions and insurance companies. Mr. Shindo has long experience representing a large number of Japanese and foreign financial firms with respect to various aspects of their businesses in Japan, including regulatory issues. Mr. Shindo is a pioneer in the area of advising financial institutions regarding global multi-currency loan facilities. Mr. Shindo has also acted as Japan counsel in relation to the merger of major global financial companies.

Kunihiko Morishita works primarily in the fields of domestic and international banking, securities and asset management. He has been named as a leading lawyer by several publications including the International Financial Law Review and Chambers’ “The World’s Leading Lawyers”, and is a member of the Financial Law Board, an influential advisory body regarding financial law matters sponsored by the Bank of Japan. Mr. Morishita has extensive experience in representing financial institutions, including investment management companies, before the Financial Services Agency and other Japanese regulatory authorities. He regularly advises a number of multinational financial institutions, located within and outside of Japan, in relation to regulatory issues in the fields of securities, trusts and asset management.

Kagayaki Funakoshi has been engaged in a broad range of matters including equity and debt offerings in both domestic and international capital markets, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, capital and business alliances, support to start-ups, Japanese REITs, securities regulations, IT, securities litigations, shareholders' meetings and other general corporate matters.

Ko Wakabayashi is a partner with broad experience in international M&A and other cross-border corporate matters. He is fully-bilingual and has represented various overseas companies especially in joint venture, M&A and strategic alliance matters by focusing on efficiently managing and integrating not only legal but also multi-jurisdictional business and corporate cultural needs, especially in deal execution and post-merger integration (PMI) phases.

Mr. Inoue is a partner of Anderson Mori & Tomotsune who has been involved primarily and has extensive experience in the field of leveraged finance, private equity, and structured finance. He has also been involved in turnaround transactions and debt restructuring for insolvent enterprises.

Kenichi Sadaka is a litigation partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, engaged mainly in international & domestic litigation, commercial arbitration and other dispute resolution procedures. Mr. Sadaka has represented many Japanese and foreign companies in Japan in matters concerning intellectual property issues (patents, copyrights, moral rights, publicity rights, medical import licenses, trademark, trade secrets, and unfair competition, etc.), real estate transactions, construction, labor (collective bargaining with labor unions, visa related issues, sexual harassment, dismissals, labor accidents, etc.), antimonopoly issues, disputes among management, disputes related to financial products, product liability, debt collections, inheritance, mortgage enforcement, defamation, professional malpractice, termination of distributorship agreements, international trade (LC and BL related matters), insurance, administrative remedies, and other matters. Mr. Sadaka also has experience in several overseas litigations, and has provided assistance in discovery procedures in Japan and in relation to companies in Japan. In addition to these civil dispute activities, Mr. Sadaka has conducted internal investigations for several companies in relation to intra-company crimes and, based upon such scrutiny, exposed criminal accusations for embezzlement, fraud, and similar actions. Mr. Sadaka also provides day-to-day legal service for general corporate legal affairs.

Osamu Hirakawa is an of counsel at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, whose practice includes general corporate matters with an emphasis on M&A and financing transactions. He is experienced in assisting multinational companies, both overseas and Japanese. He has assisted in a number of global offerings, including multiple U.K. prioritization offerings and complex TOB (tender offer bid) transactions such as Vodafone's Japan Telecom acquisition and Ripplewood's acquisition of the former Long Term Credit Bank of Japan (LTCB) (presently Shinsei Bank).

Mr. Goto has an exceptional background as a Japanese lawyer with an academic background in both science and engineering, and professional experience working in the intellectual property department of a major electronics company. Mr. Goto’s practice covers a wide range of complex intellectual property and technology/data related matters, including disputes concerning patents, licensing, trade secrets, trademark and technology related antitrust claims, as well as various data privacy/protection issues. He also has broad experience in various regulatory matters as well as product liability issues involving chemical substances, pharmaceutical products and other industrial products. Mr. Goto is recommended for: ・Intellectual Property (Japan) - Chambers Global (2019-2024) ・TMT (Technology, Media, Telecom) - The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2021-2024) ・Intellectual Property (Japan) - Asialaw Profiles (2021-2024) Since 2017, Mr. Goto has been serving as the vice chair of Standing Committee on Trade Secret of AIPPI. In addition to being admitted to the bar in Japan (2008) and the state of New York (2014), he passed the Japanese Patent Attorney Examination in 2003.

Minoru Kobayashi’s practice focuses on real estate, capital markets and structured finance transactions, such as real estate non-recourse loans, establishment of real estate funds, including Japanese REITs (real estate investment trusts), issuance and offering of debt and equity securities in international and domestic markets and complex securitizations. His practice has also included a wide range of corporate transactions, including corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, licensing and international trade.

Mr. Kuroda has been engaged in a broad range of matters at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune since he joined the firm in 2000. His works focus on general corporate, securities issue of domestic and international capital markets, advice regarding financial regulations and corporate litigation.

Yoshikazu Iwase joined Anderson Mori & Tomotsune after working with an intellectual property firm in Tokyo for three years. His litigation experience involves a number of patent infringement trials and revocation suits against the trial decisions of the Japanese Patent Office concerning patentability/validity of patents over various technologies. He has also been involved with a wide range of trademark/trade dress and copyright infringement suits, licensing and IP assets transfer transactions, and dispute resolution. Mr. Iwase has provided a wide range of advice regarding U.S. patent infringement issues in Japan. His experience also includes drafting and negotiating licensing, patent and various intellectual property transfer agreements, transactions and due diligence of intellectual property in the course of M&A deals.

Yasufumi Shiroyama is a partner who heads all aspects of the firm's intellectual property group practice, including: ・Drafting and arguing complaints, motions, answers and other pleadings for patent, trademark, copyright and know-how infringement litigation in district and appellate courts in Japan, on behalf of both Japanese and foreign companies; ・Drafting and arguing complaints, motions, answers and other pleadings for litigation arising in relation to technology transfer agreements, compensation for employee's invention, and allegedly defective products, etc. in district and appellate courts in Japan, on behalf of both Japanese and foreign companies; ・Drafting and negotiating various technology transfer agreements on behalf of both Japanese and foreign companies; ・Managing written discovery in cooperation with U.S. counsel for a Japanese client in patent license related litigation in U.S. federal court; ・Managing appellate litigation matters seeking nullification of decisions of the Japanese Patent Office; ・Drafting and arguing complaints, motions, answers and other pleadings in invalidation trial and opposition procedures before the Japanese Patent Office; and ・Advising on regulatory matters for pharmaceutical products, medical devices, chemical products, and personal data etc.

Kenichi Masuda has represented many local and foreign clients in a broad spectrum of businesses and industries. He has extensive experience in advising foreign clients and is familiar with cross-border issues. In particular, he regularly advises clients on mergers and acquisitions of listed and unlisted businesses (including, but not limited to, share acquisitions and divestments and business acquisitions and divestments for foreign clients where the target is a Japanese company or business), joint ventures and other cross-border investments, and corporate restructurings. His scope of experience also includes assisting and representing venture companies in various aspects including start-up, equity finance and initial public offerings, as well as establishing venture capital or other private equity funds, advising venture or other private equity funds on investments in Japanese businesses including high-tech businesses as well as distressed companies. He regularly provides legal services on employment and labor union relations (including representation of client companies at the court and other dispute resolution forum), real property transactions, intellectual property issues, general corporate matters (including corporate governance and compliance issues for listed companies) and commercial matters. Mr. Masuda served as a Committee Member for two committees organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for the purpose of stimulating venture business and investments into the venture business in Japan: the Committee for Improving the Business Environment for Private Equity Finance in Japan in 2000, which developed proposals for revisions to the Japanese corporate law, and the Committee for Examining Desirable Disclosure Systems of the Venture Business in Japan in 2001, which developed proposals for revisions to the Japanese Securities Exchange Law. Mr. Masuda also taught M&A as an adjunct lecturer at the Graduate School for Law and Politics of The University of Tokyo (2011-2013, 2014-2016).

Ryu Umezu specializes in finance, securities and capital market transactions, investments (including corporate, business and real property acquisitions), investment funds and regulatory matters for financial institutions and investment funds. As a capital markets specialist, he has prominent record in advising IPOs, listings, equity offerings and debt offerings in Japan as well as at the markets out of Japan including the US, UK, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore and Israel. He advises a number of major global and Japanese financial institutions.

Hiroki Kodate is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and engaged principally in the fields of M&A and general corporate matters, and regularly advises both Japanese and non-Japanese clients in this regard. In addition to his professional experience at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Mr. Kodate worked for the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, where he was in charge of the legislative project to modernize Japanese corporate laws (2002-2005). He also worked for Slaughter and May in London as a foreign secondee (2000-2001).

Capital markets transactions including private/public securities offerings, M&A transactions, general corporate matters and intellectual property